Chapter 300: Frustration, Fate and Fallen God's End
__________ POV Narration __________
IMU's frozen body trembled in the infinite vacuum of space, its many pieces still doing their best to dodge the constant barrage of unrestrained lightning.
The Personification of the sea had tried getting away numerous times, dozens each second, but Enel was not letting even the smallest spec of ice escape his lightning or head for their beautiful blue planet.
That stalemate had gone on for what felt like hours to IMU, but mere minutes had passed.
The Sky King was showing no signs of fatigue either, so the Sea God realized that he'd have to do something and do it soon if he wanted to turn the tables around.
'But how do I even get the opportunity to do anything?!? I'm already spent after using Uranus at full power, all I have are some lingering sparks...'
It was a frustrating endeavor. But the right word for it was certainly hopeless...
'Has... Has fate truly forsaken me?'
And just like that, IMU's will faltered. All it took was just a moment, but it was exactly what the Lightning God had been waiting for.
Enel couldn't contain his smile as he raised his hand and sent the drums forward, converging them into a small sphere.
"Raigo!"
From the center of it all, where Enel's lighting had been pooling, a gigantic construct arose. A sphere of pure lighting that immediately expanded and exploded as soon as it was created.
That explosion boomed in the vacuum of space, further fragmenting and vaporizing IMU's body.
Before the Sea God even realized, most of his body was gone, and he only remained with a few kilograms of ice at best.
A few kilograms of ice were floating away from his planet. Away from his source of power...
A damn near unkillable god, reduced to the size of a toddler. A god that was previously dominating the battlefield was bit rendered into a powerless ice nugget, unable to even do anything against his opponent.
Many frustrations were going through IMU's head. Frustration at not having researched the effects that exiting the atmosphere would have on his powers, the fact that he had allowed himself to get into such a situation in the first place... That he had dared to look down on his opponent.
It was all because of one thing. Fate.
He was always confident that no matter what happened, at the end of the day, fate still stood behind him. He was the hero who had brought order to the world, he had taught those savages the proper way to live, and he kept them safe from themselves for the most part...
Even now, a small part of his mind was still holding onto hope. Hope that the Wheel of Fate would spin in his favor, hope that it would all just work out.
Enel stood near the edges of their old world. He then disappeared for a brief second, turning into a flash of lightning and going to get a breath of air most likely.
When that happened, IMU's now much smaller back hit an asteroid that just happened to float nearby.
And in that instant, the Sea God could feel his power returning.
Water. There was water within some asteroids, this was the closest one to him by a long shot, but he still had a chance.
'It seems that fate is still with me...'
He got to absorb some water from that asteroid, at least a few tons before the corner of his perception felt a flash of lightning and he rolled to the side, just as the entire asteroid and the water within it were vaporized.
'Half a second. I leave you for half a second and look what you've done! Extended your own suffering!' Enel's voice, projected through electromagnetic waves into the void grated on IMU's icy eardrums.
'You will pay for this humiliation! Now that I've regained some strength, I will show you that even in the Sea of Stars, I am a god!' IMU's inner voice was also projected outward through his renewed willpower, but Enel just picked his ear and flicked his finger into space.
"Say... Haven't you been focusing on me for too long at this point?" Enel smiled as he projected that message, just as a sound unnaturally rang out in the space around them.
The sound of beating drums... And a burst of laughter defying all logic and common sense.
"ShiShiShiShi~"
Even Enel couldn't help but sweat a bit at the absurdity of it. Sound could not travel in a vacuum normally, which was why he and IMU communicated through different means.
But it seemed that for the Sun God Nika, the laws of physics were just there to point and laugh at...
Despite his voice being projected there, Luffy was not yet in space, instead, his gigantic head was still clashing against and trying to poke through the atmosphere of their planet.
Enel looked at him with a weird gaze, as his face mushed against the atmosphere almost as if he was trying to go through a glass wall.
But that glass wall soon turned into a plastic bag, bending around Luffy's features before breaking and spitting the Sun God out into space.
As soon as he got there he flapped his hands like a bird to reach Enel, who was still standing there staring at him whilst keeping IMU in check with the corner of his eye.
Luffy sighed as soon as he reached Enel and took a deep breath... In space. Where there was no air.
'I am not even surprised anymore...'
Surprisingly though, Luffy's face was not joking or funny in any way. He actually looked rather mad.
"Let's take care of this freak. We've already lost enough today.' His gaze was serious as he clenched his fist.
The Sky King just nodded when hearing Luffy's serious voice, he then turned back towards the sea god fully.
IMU had no time to think about the absurdity of Luffy's entrance, he was simply too stressed out to feel anything other than frustration and... fear.
He could feel it, Luffy was back to his peak of power, just like Enel. And while he had just regained some strength, it was still far from even 20% of his power.
'In my current state, even one of them is bad... I need to run, there's no way around it.'
Instead of trying to head back to their planet, IMU took a different approach, turning tail completely and trying to head further out into the vast universe.
'I'll gather my strength and return!'
He grew out a few small tentacles of solid ice and shot them towards the two gods like tendrils, whilst his body separated into smaller pieces and started flying out in all directions but his beloved blue giant planet.
... But was IMU in his current form fast enough to escape Enel? Of course not.
But was he even fast enough to escape an engaged Luffy?
"Gomu Gomu No... Star Net!"
In an instant, Luffy's hands grew massive, and his fingers stretched out endlessly, intertwining countless times to form a tight net right around IMU's entire body.
IMU tried to pass through the gaps, but Enel placed his hand on Luffy's back in that very moment and allowed his lightning and will to travel and fill in those gaps in the net.
The combined will of both gods was too volatile and powerful for IMU to escape it, no matter how much he tried.
Instead, he turned around and decided to go all out, attacking the two gods directly with two gigantic lances of ice coated in his willpower.
"Yahaha~ That's too funny... Black El Thor!"
Enel laughed at that attempt, and he immediately sent out a haki-enhanced El Thor straight at Luffy's gigantic palm, right at the entrance of the net.
When hitting the surface of Luffy's skin, the lightning shifted and immediately started bouncing violently around the inside of the net.
The poor ice spears were evaporated almost instantly, a few tons of water was nothing to Enel at the end of the day.
Eventually, the lightning dispersed at Enel's will, and Luffy retracted his fingers, undoing the net and heaving a sigh.
All that was left of IMU was a crystal sphere. A small and pathetic ball of ice with just a red eye in the middle.
"And so the cookie crumbles... Or rather, the empire you've built will finally end with you." Enel smiled as he appeared in front of the small sphere and rasped it in his palm.
"You... You two don't know what you're doing... All the good I've done for this world, all the suffering I've prevented through my rule! You're dooming this world!"
IMU's voice, although now weaker than ever, still rang out in Enel and Luffy's minds.
"Hmm? I thought you were going to plead for your life or something, yet here you are still spouting shit about the world..." Luffy picked his nose much like his grandfather would, flicking the small booger into space with a scowl on his face.
"You fools... Do you really think this is the end of me?!? You've already seen that Gods do not die easily. I will return one day, no matter what you do I will return! My fate is to rule the world!"
IMU's voice was steadfast, he truly did believe the words he spoke. The visions he saw of the future for himself.
"You were once a hero maybe, favored by fate to bring the world into a new era... But you are nothing more than a power-mad tyrant now.
You have no right to speak of suffering prevented, whilst ignoring all of the suffering you've caused.
The countless lives you've destroyed, countries razed all the way to the mud at your whim."
Enel could feel his blood boiling as he grasped the ball of ice, his gaze turning icy cold in itself.
IMU was also silent, but the Sky King could feel the sheer resentment emanating from him.
"Even if you are to return somehow. If for some reason fate decides it still needs a failure like you, we will still be here.
We have crushed you now, we will crush you again and again, and again. As many times as needed." Luffy's voice sounded grim as he spoke, no longer bringing happiness, but promising doom.
IMU's frustration was palpable, but it didn't have much time to think of a reply.
"You'll see... You'll all see..." IMU muttered for one last time before Enel chucked the last remains of his body at Luffy.
Luffy's hand expanded, then started spinning, then shooting forward... Right towards the sun.
The Sun God's fist was protecting the ball somewhat, as it didn't melt at the surface of the sun, but upon reaching the center, Luffy finally let go and retracted his burnt hand.
Luffy proceeded to shake the burns off and stare into the sun with a serious expression.
Both Gods stood there for a while, as they felt the entirety of IMU's life being extinguished in the center of the sun.
As soon as they could no longer feel his soul and intent, the two gods closed their eyes at the same time, before turning to one another.
Enel immediately raised his gauntleted fist towards Luffy, who couldn't help but show him a wide smile.
"You are the leader. You should let the others know, I'll stay here a bit more just in case." Luffy nodded, his fiery hair flowing as his own fist hit Enel's.
The battle was won, and the war was over.
Enel turned into a flash of lightning. He reformed within a storm right above the holy land and he took a deep breath in.
"THE WAR IS OVER! THE WORLD GOVERNMENT IS NO MORE!"
In that moment, his voice boomed louder than any thunder in the world could ever hope to be.
A few minutes passed, as his words sunk into the minds of the people below...
And then they finally erupted in cheers.
Yes, even those that had lost people precious to them. After all, there was going to be time for mourning after they celebrated their hard-fought victory...
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Heh!
So comes the end of the Great War!
Hope it was a nice enough read ;) It was pretty hard to write tbh.
Now, we are slowly approaching the end, only 2 more chapters to go!
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